Why is Python popular, while Lisp and Scheme aren't?

[Anders J. Munch]

"Pascal Costanza" <costanza at web.de> wrote:
>
> I hope that you (and anybody else) don't understand the following as an
> attack, but: People who dislike Lisp because of the parens haven't yet
> (fully) understood the essence of Lisp. I have said this several times
> before - the most important feature of Lisp is that code and data are
> the same.

I like Lisp.  I have used Lisp (well actually Scheme) before, and I
may well find opportunity to use it again.  I like the dynamic typing,
the higher-order functions, the support for a functional programming
style, the comparative runtime efficiency, the ease of learning the
syntax and much more, and yes, I also like the code-as-data thing.

But I don't like the verbosity and reliance on positional information,
that comes with the s-expression syntax that implements code-as-data.
So it's a tradeoff.  Syntax is my primary interface with my programs,
so I prioritize that highly.  Your tradeoff, it seems, is different.

I assure you that it is quite possible to understand - and appreciate -
the essence of Lisp yet choose not to use it due to the
lots-of-parentheses syntax.

- Anders